Bellingen Country Garden

This garden is situated in the hinterland region of the Mid North Coast with stunning views to the mountains of the Great Dividing Range.

The main points of the clients’ brief were to create an entrance in scale with the size of the house that provides an experience for visitors on arrival. The entry was to include guest car parking and extensive lighting.

The garden needed to be more user friendly and allow for easy walking around the house.

Arrival is now marked with an oversized pergola, the beams spanning over 7metres across the first platform where sets of easy going steps lead to the entry pavilion.

The path to the entry pavilion is flanked by low stone walls and planting. The journey to the entry allows visitors to take in the views of the mountain range.

Stone walls made from locally sourced Valla Granite are used throughout the garden to either retain or to provide freestanding visual markers. The rock was delivered to site in 1-2 ton pieces and every stone for the walls had been cut and prepared by the stone masons to create the beautifully crafted walls.

Moving around towards the north of the property, a new set of stone stairs allows for easy access via the entry lawn.

The main deck facing the stunning views previously had no access to the garden and was surrounded by a pruned hedge. The hedge was partly removed and new timber steps now invite people down to the garden.

The ground level at the base of the steps was raised by about 400mm to improve the connection to the garden. This was further reinforced by the addition of another pergola over the steps. Grapevines are being trained across the wire supports within the pergola to provide some much needed shade.

A stone retaining wall in front of the deck creates a deep planting bed that includes an existing hedge and brings the garden closer to deck height which helps to ease the disconnect.

There are five freestanding stonewalls which, with their horizontal tops, suggest level lines and without actually retaining, counteracts the sloping land.

The fenced boundary to the paddocks is being defined by the addition of some large garden beds that will eventually provide height and a backdrop to the garden without interfering with the views. Two Ulmus parvifolia will grow into wide spreading shade trees to the west.